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This may not be our worst era of the last century or so, but we've always bounced back to some semblance of prosperity. There is not a guarantee that assures that outcome. The climate may have already crossed an irreparable tipping point that could affect health and the economy in the next couple or few decades that at this time seems irreversible. Not to mention the accumulation of persistent pollutants like plastics in our environment and waterways and the loss of natural habitat that is causing the extinction of species. The global balance of power is beyond my understanding, but even the two great wars did not have decisive outcomes at one time and there have been incidents like the Cuban missile crisis where global disaster was narrowly avoided.

I would say that we are living in a dangerous time. There is a reason why science is beginning to define this as a new major division of earth time, the Anthropocene Era, where maybe the old rules of global expansion no longer apply.

I appreciated your posting, Rogar. This is where my head's at, too. When other species, so many of them, start to become extinct, we will soon follow. It's like a snowball rolling down hill. We're all connected. We've failed as a species, imho. We've fouled our nest. Other species try to avoid that.

DH and I have spoken of possibly Puerto Rico if not Mexico.....no hassles for me to get in as a US citizen and much less expensive health care that is up to US standards. Also life moves slower there and it is blessedly difficult to get things done

Puerto Rico comes with numerous issues, too....I am aware of this.

One of the things Puerto Rico was slow to do was restore power to health care facilities, one of the major causes of the thousands of hurricane related deaths. That's not blessed and it's not up to mainland standards.

One of the things Puerto Rico was slow to do was restore power to health care facilities, one of the major causes of the thousands of hurricane related deaths. That's not blessed and it's not up to mainland standards.

I'm not sure they had the workers/expertise to respond in a timely fashion. I remember reading about a non-electrician named Carrion, who was basically risking his life, learning on the fly, to restore power to neighborhoods pole by pole--and he was just one of many brave souls. Now PR is talking privatized electricity, which is exactly the wrong way to go, IMO. There should be a strong push for a public utility centered around solar and other green methods.

The news makes me wonder if a shoe is about to drop in the world of Systemically Important Financial Institutions. The market caps of SIFIs have been dropping recently, especially Deutsche Bank, Unicredit, Banco Bilbao, etc.

Then, on Sunday Treasury Secretary Mnuchin interrupted his vacation at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to have a phone conversation with the CEOs of the 6 largest US banks. Then he tweeted his version of the gist of the calls. One can read the Tweet among the press releases of the US Treasury. The tweet says that the CEOs confirm that the banks have ample liquidity … they are having no clearance or margin issues... markets are functioning properly.

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin stated his intention to convene a conference call on Monday with the President's Working Group on Financial Markets.

It may just be a coincidence, but Friday Dec 21 was the expiration date for a lot of market index futures, market index options, stock options, and stock futures... a so-called "quadruple witching date".

… Liquidity is about group behavior and group belief in the solvency of counterparties and the reliability of prices. When no one is sure who is broke, and there is high uncertainty about whether prices are meaningful, we will discover that liquidity has vanished, however plentiful it may have been shortly before.

The news makes me wonder if a shoe is about to drop in the world of Systemically Important Financial Institutions. The market caps of SIFIs have been dropping recently, especially Deutsche Bank, Unicredit, Banco Bilbao, etc.

Then, on Sunday Treasury Secretary Mnuchin interrupted his vacation at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to have a phone conversation with the CEOs of the 6 largest US banks. Then he tweeted his version of the gist of the calls. One can read the Tweet among the press releases of the US Treasury. The tweet says that the CEOs confirm that the banks have ample liquidity … they are having no clearance or margin issues... markets are functioning properly.

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin stated his intention to convene a conference call on Monday with the President's Working Group on Financial Markets.

It may just be a coincidence, but Friday Dec 21 was the expiration date for a lot of market index futures, market index options, stock options, and stock futures... a so-called "quadruple witching date".

… Liquidity is about group behavior and group belief in the solvency of counterparties and the reliability of prices. When no one is sure who is broke, and there is high uncertainty about whether prices are meaningful, we will discover that liquidity has vanished, however plentiful it may have been shortly before.

--Alex J. Pollock

Sort of reminds me of that old Monty Python bit where they kept insisting that there’s no cannibalism in the Royal Navy.

The stock market this Christmas Eve has dropped over 400 points thus far and has breached the sub 22,000 level. I'm old enough to know what happens next in turbo charged capitalism, as are the rest of us, no? Hang on tight and I wish you and yours what stability you can possibly find/achieve in 2019. Rob

I think some of the market volatility is due to the unpredictable nature of the Trump administration, although the mainstream media has not hit on that one, yet. I'm personally starting to browse interest rates. It could be the first time in years when money market or shorter term CD rates might actually beat inflation, although it might take a little while for interest rate increases to trickle down to us common consumers. I'm seeing it as a boon to us conservative investors.